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this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024
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I'm pretty sure we could go back to using it, with more precautions in place, better binders, etc. Hell, it's still used in many parts of the world, and it occurs naturally all over the fucking place. But, alas, lawyers would have to stop salivating at every mention of the word.
In geoscience, we started using the word asbestoform to describe minerals with fibrous habits so we don't get lawyers showing up to destroy all of our rock samples and turn every geoscience facility into a superfund site.
Is there a way to keep it inert when the next homeowner starts tearing down drywall and drilling holes in stuff?
Not really, but you mark is clearly everywhere and bond it in fire resistant epoxy.
People will learn when they drill into their wall and hit epoxy that means something.
That helps somewhat, but if the house gets demolished with a bulldozer that's still a lot of asbestos floating around again. The point is, you don't know what will happen to it in the future, and it's just not safe to have semi hazardous material lying around everywhere.
It's pretty unlikely the homeowner is bulldozing the house themselves. So likely it's handled by professionals.
Epoxied asbestos is approximately as dangerous as epoxied fibreglass -- add some dust suppression and have at it.
What if there's an earthquake, or a tornado, or a flood?
Entire neighborhoods of carcinogens would be released into the environment.
Unless said hurricane, tornado, or flood grinds the material into a fine powder then you go around the neighbourhood snorting it -- then if bound properly, it is just as safe (or dangerous) as fibreglass insulation.
I'm not saying fill everyone's attics with powdered asbestos or something.
We use dangerous products all the time. For example, mercury in florescent lighting. But we regulate and generally speaking things are quite safe. But for whatever reason, as soon as anyone hears the word asbestos they freak out and no amount of explanations regarding safe handling will suffice.
Well, hurricanes and tornadoes and floods DO grind materials into dust, which can then turn aerosol.
So maybe we just, ya know, don't use it in construction at all.
Show my a neighbourhood pulverized into fine dust by any of the above -- even the concrete. The physics doesn't make any sense. The closest thing we have to this is wartime bombing, and then asbestos is likely your least worry. Anyway, you're entrenched.
Russia and China still use it loads.
As with all research papers published out of China, you take their numbers with a grain of salt. They report approximately 2000 cases per year of mesothelioma, and of those, only 15% are definitively asbestos exposure related. So about 300 per year. Of those cases, over 80% are asbestos industry (improper safety measures for repeated occupational exposure).
Compared to fire related deaths prevented, it's probably a good trade for China. Probably.